Scheib main cemetery
The main cemetery Scheib was until the opening of the central cemetery in Furpach in 1961, the most important cemetery in what was then the smelting town of Neunkirchen in Saarland . It was used as a burial place until 1962, after which the deceased were buried in existing family graves until 1996. In the meantime, almost all graves have been leveled, but there are still leases for certain grave sites. In 1996 the former dead field was rededicated as a green area by the Neunkirchen city administration. The area of the park-like green area on the southern edge of the city center (main entrance “Unterer Friedhofsweg”) is 13.2 hectares . The area of the cemetery has more than 800 trees and shrubs that provide habitat for rare bird species.
history
Due to the strong increase in Neunkirchen's population since the middle of the 19th century, the two older burial places opened in 1831 for the Protestant community on Talstrasse and the Catholic community on Schloßstrasse were already occupied after a few decades. By resolution of the council of the mayor's office of Neunkirchen in 1873, the main cemetery was established as a new Protestant cemetery in 1875. In 1883 the Catholic cemetery was also fully occupied and the main cemetery was expanded to include a Catholic part. The morgue , built in 1894/95 in the style of a Romanesque chapel, is a listed building. The separation of denominations is still taken into account in the memorial field of the victims of the devastating gasometer explosion at the Neunkircher ironworks on February 10, 1933, which is marked with a simple high iron cross. The fallen of the First World War were given a cemetery of honor, which in 1934 was given a memorial with a wide flight of steps. “The sons of the city gave their lives for you” can be read on the side of the tower. The memorial is also a listed building. In 1959/60, those who fell in World War II and those who died in 1870/71 were reburied there and buried near the memorial. Today commemorations on Memorial Day take place there. On other cemeteries 91 are also 1959 there umgebettete Soviet war dead whose grave sites with Russian crosses are provided, and the war dead of Neunkircher civilians.
rating
Although most of the graves have been leveled, culturally or family-historical important tombs have been secured, partly restored and preserved, including the grave of the Neunkirchen painter and graphic artist Fritz Arnold . Since an ideas competition in 1996/97, demands have been made to preserve the formative structure, significant tombs and tomb ensembles, as well as parts of the valuable tree population and the rows of trees that bordered away. This phase is now considered completed. The new lawns created by clearing the cemetery give the cemetery a park-like character that barely reveals the former, small-scale field and path structure. Individual areas are still visibly separated from one another by walls and iron gates. The two older abandoned cemeteries, the Protestant one on Talstrasse and the Catholic one on Schloßstrasse, were also used as parks in 1911, then overgrown and devastated and finally leveled and converted.
Architectural monuments
- The cemetery chapel , which was built in 1894/95 and has served both denominations from the outset, is designed as a small, gabled-roofed hall with a semicircular apse in neo-Romanesque shapes, with sandstone corner blocks and a round arch frieze as a roof cornice. The west facade has a round arched portal and round windows, the apse with cloverleaf windows, the south side two round arched windows. On the north side there is a functional building with toilets, a lounge for the workers and a changing room for clergy.
- The war memorial located in the center of the main cemetery above a wide flight of artificial basalt stairs was erected by the local warriors' association and inaugurated on April 1, 1934.
literature
- Rainer Knauf: The cemeteries of the city of Neunkirchen . In: Rainer Knauf; Christof Trepesch (Ed.): Neunkircher Stadtbuch , Ottweiler 2005, ISBN 3-00-015932-0 , pp. 601–631.
- Gerd Meiser: A park full of memories, the former Scheib cemetery in Neunkirchen is given a new task . Saarbrücker Zeitung , edition of May 14, 2011, page H 6 (home). Online archive of the Saarbrücker Zeitung.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Gunter Thomas: Watchful eye on the city trees . Pfälzischer Merkur, January 11, 2011 ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
Web links
Coordinates: 49 ° 20 ′ 5 ″ N , 7 ° 10 ′ 55 ″ E